The Grain of Paddy at Perumpuliyūr

One day, on his way to Tirukkuḍanthai, the Āzhwār stopped to rest on the veranda of a house in Perumpuliyūr, where a few brāhmaṇas were reciting the Vedas. Seeing him, they stopped, for the Vedas were not to be recited before a stranger. The Āzhwār understood and rose to leave, and the brāhmaṇas tried to resume, only to find that they could not remember where they had stopped. The Āzhwār then split open a grain of paddy with his fingernail, pointing them to the exact passage, which spoke of the paddy grain.

The brāhmaṇas realised his greatness and begged his forgiveness.

It is worth remembering that, as the Āzhwār was an amsham of the Sudarshana Chakram, his radiance was so powerful that it overwhelmed the brāhmaṇas and left them speechless. That, and not merely the fact that he was not a brāhmaṇa, is why they had fallen silent.

When the archaka of the local temple wished to honour him, some of those present objected and spoke ill of the Āzhwār. He prayed to the Lord to reveal Himself to them, singing:

"Akkarangaḷ akkarangaḷ enrum āvadhu en kolō?

ikkurumbai nīkki ennai īsan ākka vallaiyēl,

sakkaram koḷ kaiyanē, saḍankar vāi aḍangiḍa,

uṭkiḍandha vaṇṇamē puram posindhu kāṭṭiḍē."

"What use are those resplendent hands of Yours, if You cannot remove the arrogance of these people and raise me up in their midst? O Lord who holds the discus, silence these scoffers by showing Yourself as You dwell within me."

The Lord revealed Himself in the Āzhwār's own body, and those who had mocked him were astonished and begged his forgiveness.